


The History of Us

by saiyuri_dahlia



Category: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Jerkass Link At First But He Gets Better, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-01-10 10:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1158625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiyuri_dahlia/pseuds/saiyuri_dahlia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shad is assigned as his tutor, Link is less than thrilled but it's either learn from him or get cut from the baseball team. If he wasn't stuck on this assignment with him, he would never hang out with such a dork but maybe a little time stuck together is just what these two young men need...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Story Title: The History of Us

Disclaimer: Still do not own Twilight Princess.

-o-

Chapter One: Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Sidelined

-o-

He was an all-star. Destined for the Majors, the Hyrulean Royals no doubt. Classmates and rival schools alike said his time at bat was truly impressive, terrifying, and outstanding to watch. Link had heard it all and more. His athletic prowess was a part of the regular talk in the halls. He was Castle Town High's greatest hitter since the school's inception. And he was only a sophomore. His fellow teammates stared in awe and the other schools trembled at the prospect he still had a few years on the team and that he could actually _improve_ in that time.

Well, not anymore. He could kiss his remaining years on the baseball team or even just being able to play in the next game goodbye if he didn't raise his history grade to the bare minimum. Fast and soon.

In the teachers' offices, Link sat slumped forward, his head lying on his History teacher's desk, and stared at his most recent test results. There was more red on his paper than on the Din Dynamites' uniforms. Unable to bear the sight of it a moment longer, Link closed his eyes. The words of a student announcer at his last (and it was his last) game echoed in his ears, the guy's words asking the world if there was anything that could stop Link. Indeed, there was only one thing that could stop him.

_And here we have it,_ Link made a soft groan into the mahogany. _My greatest, darkest enemy, destined to be locked in mortal battle with for all eternity…History._

Goddesses, he sucked at history.

His teacher, Mr. Auru, stood facing the window, without a doubt in one of his deep in thought poses as he tried to come up with a plan that would accomplish the impossible—allow Link to stay on the team and miraculously transform him into a student of bare average understanding of Hyrule's long and complex history. Link figured it would be easier for the old but spry man to climb an erupting Death Mountain than to succeed at saving his meager GPA.

Link hated cheating but a small part of him wished Mr. Auru just gave him a pass. It certainly would have been easier for them both (and the team) if he did. But Mr. Auru was a stern but fair man. While a good many of his teachers would have immediately offered the pass (especially if Link's grades were as awful as this in their classes), there was no way Mr. Auru was about to resort to such lows. One thing Link knew for certain—the only way his grade was going to meet requirement was if he worked really, really, _really_ hard to raise it.

Link lifted his forehead just slightly up and a bit back and then sharply slammed his head against the desk.

He _hated_ history.

"Mister Link, I have considered several ways of correcting our problem but truthfully they all come down to effort," Mr. Auru said, his words sounding grim, no matter how nice he tried to be. "There is no special treatment that can benefit you better than the reward of hard work so I have asked and been allowed to give you a test. Your grade and your future on the team will be determined by how well you perform on this test."

If a history test was all that stood between him and ever playing in another game, Link started rehearsing his goodbyes to his team and the world of baseball.

"So you know, this test will not be like anything I have given you before. It will be harder, longer, and cover everything we have so far—"

_Great. And we both know how wonderful I am on regular tests,_ Link thought, trying to avoid the glaring seven percent grade headlining his test paper. _Gee, I can't wait to fail the Super Final Boss Mega Ultra Sparkle-tastic history test as well…_

"Since the test will take longer to complete than my class time permits, you will be taking the test after school. You have two weeks from today to study."

"Thank you, sir," Link said unenthusiastically, forcing himself to sit up correctly and to give a small proper bow in his seat. "I promise to do my best." He knew Mr. Auru was giving him a favor but it still felt like a punishment. Or a death sentence, at least where it pertained to his baseball career.

"I'm seeing to it that you do just that," Mr. Auru said.

Confused by what he meant, Link watched the old man walk to the door. Fairly confident that nothing could ever help him and was just waiting for Mr. Auru to dismiss him, Link turned back around in his seat and tried not to look down at the gruesome murder scene of red across his test.

Auru spoke to someone outside briefly—at least Link thought he had heard a second voice, albeit a very quiet one—and then led the other person inside and directed that person to stand by Link. Shooting a quick look over, Link saw Auru's guest was a student, a strangely dressed nerdy young man with glasses, to be exact.

"Link, this is Shad. You might recognize him from class," Mr. Auru said, as the young man smiled at him and gave him a small polite bow.

"Nope," Link said frankly.

"Well, perhaps that is not to be unexpected…" Shad said, faintly laughing out of nervousness, Link guessed. "On account we do sit more than a few seats behind and several rows to the right of one another. I say, we practically sit on opposite ends of the classroom."

"Are you a foreign exchange student?" Link asked, his stare flattening.

"Heavens no, I am not. I have lived in Castle Town all my life," Shad said and then blinked in curiosity. "Umm, pardon me, but why ever do you ask?"

"Because you talk funny."

Shad stared back in surprise, mouth open. "I-I say, I-I do not!"

Link's disbelief did not go away. In fact, adding to his unconvinced stare, he raised his eyebrow at a questioning slant. And that seemed to annoy the peculiarly-accented boy more and forced him to explain himself at first before swiftly switching to reprimanding Link for being quite rude toward him and at their first true introduction to one another nonetheless.

"Boys, please," Mr. Auru called, lowering his hands in a definitive please-settle-down gesture. "Link, much as I'm positive you're not thrilled by our arrangements, it might be wise of you to show some civility. After all, Shad will be your tutor for the next two weeks."

Link immediately scooted his chair back and shot up from it. "You really think he's going to help me at all? Why don't you make it easy and not waste anyone's time and just fail me already? I get it! I'm an idiot at history. So long baseball. I'll get over it," Link said, his voice steadily raising with anger and promising that he wasn't about to get over anything anytime soon.

"Link..." Mr. Auru was calm. "I do not value taking the easy road. I do not care what is convenient, for myself or for you. I do what is right. I know you can do this. You have the determination and I know that when you're motivated you'll succeed. You just have to want it hard enough to work for it. And Shad will be there to help you in your studies."

"I say, it would be my pleasure to assist you. We will have your grade up to standard in tip-top time, I promise you," Shad chimed in.

Shooting a hard, level stare at the boy, Link snatched his test paper off Mr. Auru's desk and held it to Shad's face. "This is my last test score. And honestly, it's one of my better."

"Oh dear…" And then realizing what he had said, Shad quickly apologized. "I-I mean…uh…please forgive me. Terribly rude of me, that was."

"Nah, you're just seeing what a waste of time I really am," Link said as he crinkled his paper into a ball, stuffed his hands in his jean pockets, and headed for the door. "Thanks Mr. Auru, sir, for trying but what you're trying to do is fantasy and I want to live in reality."

"Pardon me, Link—" Shad said, no doubt trying to convince him otherwise but Link wanted to hear none of it.

"Not gonna happen!" Link said as he swung the teachers' offices door closed behind him. Why was he the only one who could see how stupid this was? And shouldn't he be the expert on how well he could learn history? Sure, Mr. Auru thought he could do more because he was a teacher—he was paid to believe kids could learn.

But that Shad boy, he didn't know him. What gave him the right to think Link could do better? What made that nerd think he could teach him? Link knew he sucked at history. Period. He didn't need to torture himself and waste both their time trying to learn what just would not stick in Link's head.

"Useless," Link grumbled to himself as he headed off to his last practice and to deliver the grim news to his coach and teammates.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Thanks to a guest for leaving kudos.

Story Title: The History of Us

Disclaimer: Still do not own Twilight Princess.

-o-

Chapter Two: Do Not Squander This Opportunity

-o-

Shad could not be positive if he could call Link ungrateful, on account they actually had not sat down at a single study session yet but the stubborn and dismissive boy was absolutely antagonistic about their whole tutorial arrangement. It rather confused him (and Mr. Auru as well) as to why he was fighting his help and insisted he could not be taught. Yes, his test score was the lowest Shad had ever seen but that only meant to him more room for improvement. Link only saw it as proof of the futility of their endeavor.

Shad's hopes were not as cynical, however, and he tried before and after their one shared class to talk to him and work out their schedules—because little as his peers believed Shad did have a life and it was on a schedule and he did not wish for it to clash with Link's obvious pre-engagements—but Link had ignored him on both occasions. He had ignored him some more in the hallways and again at lunch where Link's company had shot their usual ridiculing comments at him as he stood there and tried to gain his attention until he at last stormed off in aggravation and hurt at a particularly vile sting.

Shad had tried again to meet up with him before practice but to no success then either. So Shad waited in the stands, very much uncomfortable and feeling out of place. The students around him where not his usual company—in fact most students were not his usual company since no one was ever in Shad's company. However, he had given his word to Mr. Auru that he would have Link prepared and Shad was not a young man who went against his word, so there he waited, looking about nervously and hoping no one noticed his presence.

In time, it was Link's turn to step up to bat and Shad noticed two things. First, Link was a southpaw (which, incidentally, was the only baseball term Shad knew) and second, it was the first time all day that Link finally looked happy. Whenever Shad had approached him, he had immediately either shown irritation or disinterest (or both, one leading toward the other) at him. Of course, if he caught sight of him in the stands, Shad had no doubt he would have switched to either harsh expression but for now he was relaxed and smiling.

Wearing a noticeable knowing smirk, Ashei, the only girl on the boys' team, tossed him a simple fastball and with a mighty swing, ball cracking like thunder against the wooden bat, Link sent the poor ball flying out of the field and quite possibly halfway into the stratosphere.

Shad had to admit he was impressed and a little frightened. Even if he was not one to pay mind to sports, he had overheard how good Link was. He had taken the hearsay and gossipers' opinions for their worth since he never thought he would ever see his skill for himself but having done so now, he could say that perhaps the hearsay had underestimated how proficient (and potentially dangerous) Link was with a bat.

And Link was really good. Shad could almost understand his disappointment, frustration, and anger at possibly never playing the sport he loved and was truly good at again. Still it perplexed him as to why he wasn't fighting to save himself more, why he wasn't embracing every opportunity to keep his place on the team, why he wasn't eager for his tutorial assistance…

"Oi, Link!" the coach called. "Ease off, kid! School's not gonna pay for more if you keep knocking all our balls out."

Link grinned and nodded back and everyone could tell he was laughing. Flipping his bat in the air and catching it one handed, Link readied himself back into batting position. From then on the rest of his hits managed to stay just within the field, though one did strike a teammate square in the chest and if it wasn't for the fact the boy had Goron ancestry, he would have suffered much more than a perfectly round contusion and the air knocked out of him.

After practice, Shad made his way to catch up with Link and found him walking in the company of his chatting teammates and associates. Shad did not like groups. Approaching groups always meant more people to laugh at him, to insult him, and the potential of being attacked in a greater number. Power rested in numbers but Shad never had anyone else but himself at his side.

Still he had a duty and promise to uphold so Shad swallowed his nerves, raised his head high, and hurried toward them.

"Link! Excuse me, Link!" he called, growing winded. He was not a sprinter. "I need to talk to you! About our arrangement! Link, please!"

He had requested Link's attention but the only one that looked over their shoulder at him was the large boy with Goron ancestry.

"Scat, get out of here," he said, swiping his large hand through the air. "No one wants to talk to you."

Even though the Goron boy intimidated him and he knew that one punch to the face from him would leave him in desperate need of facial reconstruction surgery or in an indefinite coma, he was not here to talk to him. Bless the Goddesses, the Goron boy was not his pupil.

"P-Pardon me, h-however I must speak to Link," he said and finally the rest of the group paused to listen to him. Link did not look happy, had his arms crossed over his chest, and looked obstinately off to the right but at least they were face to face at last. "I need to speak with you so we can organize our schedules to coincide with one another's and arrange possible times for our tutorials. Also I believe we should proceed to the library and promptly begin our first session."

"What is he talking about, yeah?" Ashei, eyebrow raised in confusion, asked Link.

There was still an ever-present twinge in his chest as Shad recalled being close childhood friends once with Ashei. Of course, that had been before they reached middle school when she suddenly started ignoring him and hanging out with the very kids she used to defend him against for some absolutely out-of-the-blue reason she had never properly explained to him. The fact that she had become interested in sports and he had poured himself into his studies had not helped their growing rift. He still missed her company and wished sometimes they were still friends like they once were, especially now that he had somehow wound up the universal outcast at their school.

Link made a loud defiant snort and explained to his friends, "I suck at history so to stay on the team, Auru is giving me a test and I have to study with him."

"Ha! You have to hang out with Scat!" the Goron boy shouted and gave Link's shoulders a playful shake as the rest of their group erupted into laughter and smirks.

As Link's teammates and associates had their jollies and plentiful ribbing at Link, Shad was not amused. He reviled the nickname he had inadvertently bequeathed to himself—blast his nature to assist anyone who inquired him of his vocabulary knowledge. If he had known his offering of intelligence was going to be used against him, he would have remained silent.

'Scat' was short for scatterbrained, however the word had other appropriate alternate meanings, such as 'to shoo away' for obvious reasons or the singing of improvised, meaningless syllables since his peers considered everything Shad had to say nonsensical and meaningless. It was also another word for excrement, a fact that might not have been widely known but was definitely not lost on Shad.

It also pinched on Shad's last nerve that his unfortunate nickname was more widely known and used by his peers than his actual name. Even teachers took a moment to reread over their roster in surprise when he answered to Shad.

"Excuse me," Shad said. "I say, unless you have some other pressing matters to attend to at the present time, I do believe we should carry on to the library. Is that all right with you, old boy?"

"Sorry, but my afternoon's full," Link said. "Lots of stuff to do."

Ashei snorted. "Yea, girl-watch in the food court and stuff yourself with burgers." She smirked as Link glared back at her. She then nudged him toward Shad and said, "Go study, Link. I know you're not thrilled and I don't blame you but this is important. To you and us. We'll catch you some other time, yeah?"

Shad watched Link watch his teammates leave. He noted the scowling boy made no attempt to hide the fact he would rather be with his associates than stand beside him.

"Hey," Ashei called. "I'll swing by and toss you a burger so you better study hard, yeah?"

"Three!" Link shouted back. At least he showed some happiness at the promise of food.

"Two!" Ashei replied. "If you're lucky, yeah?"

When Link's teammates were far enough away and were clearly no longer able to speak with Link, Shad supposed it was all right for them to head onward to the library.

"So, old boy, shall we?" Shad asked, smiling, and gestured in the general direction of the library.

His arms still crossed over his chest and his expression like a petulant child's, Link stormed off toward the library with Shad hastening to keep up with him a step or two behind.

-o-

Head on the table with his textbook standing up in front of him, Link sat three-fourths of the way asleep while Shad wrote on the whiteboard and jabbered on about something that happened centuries ago that Link honestly could have cared less about. It didn't help that the guy sounded so happy and clearly liked history, which was proof enough to Link that he was an alien from another planet trying (and failing) to blend in with normal society.

Because how else did he know and actually understand Hyrule's history if he hadn't studied it for thousands of years? And then there was the funny way he talked, despite his claim that he had lived in Castle Town all his life…

The sad part was that even thinking Shad was an alien didn't make listening to him interesting enough. It ticked Link off that he had to be here in the library's study room, instead of at the mall. He could be having fun. He could be _eating_. Goddesses, he was _starving_! He didn't care if the strange names Shad spoke were people or places—all he could think about was food. And Shad hadn't let him get something from the vending machine, claiming it would be a distraction. Joke was on him—Link couldn't understand history even with a full stomach and he definitely wouldn't on an empty one.

_Ashei, you better not forget…_ he groaned.

"Link, sit up. Slouching ruins your posture," Shad said, taking a seat beside him, and then laid Link's textbook down onto its spine. "And please do not stand your textbook in such a fashion. It is disrespectful to the book."

"It's a book," Link said derisively as he begrudgingly sat up.

Shad paused, his jaw tight, before he took a deep breath and then released it. He then smiled. Rather like a trying-to-be-understanding adult getting ready to explain to a stupid child where they had went wrong would.

"Now I will advise you that you do not proceed along with this discussion as you will no doubt discover yourself unable to gain any success with your counterpoint argument and I, for one, would rather not squander our time on a fruitless endeavor. Am I understood, old boy?"

Link was about to say if he didn't want to waste time, he should give up tutoring him but then Shad had said something about fruit and Link forgot what he was going to say in favor of making a fruit salad in his head. Link guessed he had agreed with Shad because Shad was soon trying to tutor him some more.

"Can you at least tell me the year Ordon Province officially became a part of Hyrule?" Shad asked. "Mister Auru discussed it in class today. Now that you are aware of the dire circumstances you are bound within, certainly you presented some meager keen attention toward today's lecture?"

Link gave some thought and scoured his memory for the answer but wasn't certain by the end so he decided to ask, "Can you put mangos in fruit salad? I hope so because I do like mangos."

Shad tilted his head down and pinched the bridge of his nose tightly. It was another deep breath length before he said, "To answer your question, yes, I do believe you can put mangos in fruit salad if one wishes to and now that I have answered your question, I would most appreciate if you answered mine—"

"What about cherimoya?" Link interrupted. "I've never eaten one before. What's it taste like?"

"Link, quit thinking about fruit," Shad said, his voice measured and stern," and inform me the year Ordon Province became a part of Hyrule proper. I will permit you a clue. It was a year after the end of what became poetically-termed 'The Twilight Conflict'. Add a year to the year that war ended and there is your answer."

"I don't care. That was a long time ago," Link whined as he slouched forward and laid his head back down on the table. "And I'm hungry. You didn't let me get a snack."

"Please inform me this is some sort of obfuscation on your part," Shad said without a drop of amusement. "And if so, I hope you are thoroughly amused by now so you may please drop the performance and deliver a cessation to my growing vexation and permit me to teach you something by the end of this session."

"Y'know, it's no wonder why no one talks to you," Link said wryly. "No one can get what the hell you're saying."

Shad stared back at him, eyes wide and visibly affronted. "I say, it is a wonder to me how you persist in insulting the very person trying to assist you. In general, this is not something the rest of society would consider civil or very intelligent."

"So you finally see that I'm stupid. About time," Link said and then his head caught up with his mouth. "…Wait, did you just call me stupid?"

Swallowing his air sharply at the boy's glare, Shad shook his head no. "Those were not my words at all, old boy. I do believe you are intelligent and capable of learning anything you seek. However, I believe your actions of lately have been deplorable and quite counterproductive. It is generally unwise to antagonize your tutor, especially someone under your circumstances. In summary, I believe your actions are unintelligent. You, old boy, however, are perfectly capable of learning anything you seek."

_He talks like a walking term paper_ , Link grumbled and gritted his teeth in annoyance. In the Goddesses' name, he just wanted to cover his ears whenever the geek talked. And he talked and talked. Simple yes or no did not exist for this guy. No, he just went on and on. And if that wasn't annoying enough, the guy had a habit of using words Link never even knew existed, much less what they meant. Goddesses, the guy gave him a headache.

"Could you…" Link said, tense, as he slowly ran his hands through his hair, "…for once in your life, talk like a normal person?"

"My vocabulary is not abnormal at all. These words exist for our utilization and is it my fault your comprehension is deficient?" Shad said, a hardness in his tone and frown, as he raised his head high. "Fine then. Why do I not use a more familiar folksy phrase so you may finally 'get' me? Do not bite the hand that feeds you."

Link blew an audible snort of air. " _Feed me?"_ he scoffed. "You haven't let me eat a thing!"

"That is not the point, old boy!" Shad ran a hand across his face in frustration. "Are your auditory sensors functioning optimally? Or does your entire cognitive process revolve around food and its consumption?"

"When I'm hungry, it does," Link said.

"Then we better fix that, yeah?" Ashei said.

Link looked over and saw Ashei standing in the doorway to the small, enclosed study rooms adjacent to the library but what he noticed first and foremost was the greasy burger bag in her hand.

"Yes! Finally!" Link grinned as he shot up from his seat. Ashei tossed him the bag and within seconds of catching it, he was already tearing into his first burger.

"Hey, forgetting something, yeah?" Ashei said and when Link failed to understand what she was referring to, she rubbing her fingers together in a money gesture. Finally, he caught on, grabbed his wallet, and handed over the rupees.

"Come now, old boy, at least act as if you have seen food before," Shad said, arms crossed over his chest, as he watched Link dive in. "Not that garbage you are wolfing down vigorously can be classified as such."

Link shot Shad a sharp glare and then went on with eating, purposely getting sauce and bits all over his face just to annoy his so-called tutor.

"At least now that you are satiated, do you believe it would not be impossible for us to proceed onward with your supplementary history education? I would prefer to cease this first session with some accomplishment made, do you not agree?"

"Ashei, do me a favor and go find me the 'Scat to Modern Hylian dictionary'?" Link said.

"Sure, I think I see it right here," Ashei said and while Link was more focused on unwrapping his second burger, she walked over and twisted his ears.

"What was that for?" Link said, pain evident in his voice, as he raised his hands to protect his aching pointy ears.

"I was kind of hoping that's where your reset button was," Ashei said, smirking. "Figured a reset would help you take this seriously, yeah?"

"I am taking this seriously!"

"I say, your interpretation of the word and its actual definition are worlds apart, old boy. Perhaps a dictionary is in order so that you may be taught the proper usage of that term," Shad said.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" Link said, mid-bite.

"First of all, never speak with your mouth full," Shad said sternly. "And second, while indeed my opinion was not inquired, I will not stand idly by and allow you to deface proper language. You have not at all taken my tutorial seriously and, in fact, all you have done is whine and sulk like a petulant child."

"Maybe you're a terrible teacher," Link grumbled.

"Maybe you need to try harder," Ashei shot back, earning a glare from Link. "Don't even start with me, Link. You're being a crybaby and it's time you got over it. We need you and you need to study to stay with us, yeah?"

Link turned his head to the side and snorted defiantly.

"Think of it like this. Bases are loaded, it's the final inning, we need a homerun and you're on bat. Ball is coming toward you and you got two options. So do you cucco out and lose it for us or do you swing the bat? What do you do, yeah?"

Lowering his half-eaten burger and closing his mouth, Link stared firmly down at nothing in particular as he thought.

"I swing the bat," he finally said.

Ashei smirked. "'Bout time you do it already, yeah?"

Link heard her leave soon after but couldn't pull his mind away from what he had just reluctantly agreed to. He knew Ashei was right and, though he didn't want to admit to it, Shad was right. He didn't have much choice in the matter. He needed to pass Auru's test and the only way he was going to do that was with Shad's help. He certainly wouldn't be able to do it alone.

Not that he was looking forward to his tutoring. Right now, Link considered it a victory and a show of good behavior if he didn't fall asleep five seconds after Shad started speaking. Link wasn't sure if learning the stuff he needed to know or putting up with his super-nerdy tutor and figuring out what he was saying half the time would be the hardest part for him to deal with.

But it was still either head up to bat and swing or walk away and Link did not walk away, much as he rather be doing anything else in the world than studying history with Shad.

-o-

While Link was clearly occupied in thought, Shad excused himself from the study room and hurried. After all, there was an expression of gratitude needed to be said and Ashei would not remain for long near the library.

He found her just outside the main doors. "Excuse me, Ashei—"

She stopped and turned around suddenly, her stare and voice was sharp. "Whatever you're gonna say, don't. It's not that big a deal and I did it for the good of the team so don't think too much into it, yeah?"

Although her quick words and harsh tone threw him off momentarily, Shad quickly composed himself. "W-Well, truthfully, I was only going to say how I appreciate immensely for your—"

"Hey, didn't you hear me? I said don't say it," she said as she marched forward and invaded his personal space. "I guess your Hylian ears can hear the Goddesses but can't hear the girl right in front of your face, yeah?"

"It has been a long time since you have ever stood right in front of my face, my old friend," Shad said.

Her eyes widening with honest shock, Ashei stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. She became noticeably uncomfortable and darted her stare as she attempted to avoid his eyes. Her hands went from resting on her hips to alternately rubbing the back of her neck in discomfort.

"Yea, well…it's been a long time since you wet the bed," Ashei said wryly, her eyes fixed on the library's tile front entrance. "We both have things we don't do anymore, yeah?"

"In defense of myself, I only did that once and you know the reason why," Shad said, trying not to sound annoyed as a hard edge crept into his voice. "Really, Ashei, the first time you and I have ever spoken face to face in years and you want to take low jabs at me? Utilizing information that you only know because of our once close friendship, might I remind you?"

It was several moments as Ashei stood staring off to the side as she sulked and stubbornly refused to admit Shad was right.

"Sorry," she at long last said. "…I honestly figured that I would forget most of our friendship, that the memories would just go away, yeah?"

A sharp pain jolted through Shad as he heard Ashei say that she had wanted to forget their childhood friendship. And then he remembered that Ashei never could express her feelings well and whenever conversations called for her to say what she truly felt, she typically defended herself with a harsh bravado.

"However, the memories did not go away," Shad said.

Ashei did not say anything and did not need to as she briefly made eye contact with him and then sent her stare down. He was right. Much as she had said she had wanted to forget, she had not. She had still held onto her memories. Shad had always thought she had moved on from their friendship, that she had cast aside their bond without thought or heart as quickly as she had severed it. So it seemed that was not entirely the case.

"So…Link…" she said, still refusing to look at him. "I know he's being a pain in the ass but try not to take anything personally, okay? He's just being pissy and lazy. Mostly lazy. He'll get over himself soon enough. And if not, I'll twist his ears again if I have to, yeah?""

"Very well then," Shad said, softly smiling. "Thank you, Ashei."

"You're lucky I don't twist your ears for that, yeah?" she said, a slight playful edge to her smirk, as she turned to leave.

_Though I doubt we will be sitting together at lunch or spending time together outside of class like we once did,_ Shad thought, watching Ashei rush out of the library before heading back to make a second attempt to impart Link some knowledge of Hyrule's history. _I must say, it is comforting for me to know that she has not completely suppressed all memory of our childhoods together. How ever miniscule that part within her may be, there is still some piece of her that places value in our youthful yesteryears._

… _It is more than I ever believed she still possessed._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank the readers who gave kudos since the last chapter posted so very, very, very long ago.
> 
> Remember this Shad/Link story of mine? No? Well, that's fine because I had forgotten about it too. Actually, I had thought I had already completed it until I checked on it but apparently I had just worked a lot on the outline… Oops. Well, hopefully the few readers interested in this story are still out there…but I doubt it. As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: The History of Us

Disclaimer: Still do not own Twilight Princess.

-o-

Chapter Three: Wii Come Together

-o-

"So, how's the tutoring going? Learning lots, yeah?" Ashei smirked as she followed Link out of the cafeteria and walked down the hall alongside him.

Link groaned through a mouthful of octorok-flavored chips. It was the first time their class schedules merged during the day and instead of saying hi, she had decided to jab at him with that straight off. "Goddesses, Ashei, I'm eating. I don't want to talk about that now."

"There. Now you're not," she said, snatching his chip bag right out of his hands. "So, tell me, how's your tutoring going, yeah?"

"It's stupid. I'm not going back," he whined as he reached for and struggled to grab his chips back as Ashei expertly and successfully played keep away, effortlessly turning away from him at every try, even as he chased after her down the hall. "Give me—"

Stopping near her locker, Ashei held the chip bag high in the air as Link rose onto his tiptoes and hopped for them—it was times like this Link hated being five-foot-three and the shortest member on the baseball team. He pulled down on her arm and Ashei resisted him for about thirty seconds before his muscles bit by bit overcame hers.

"Link—no— _pay attention_ …" Ashei ordered, shoving him against the lockers and earning his absolute focus. "What happened to you swinging the bat? Might I remind you _again_ that it's not just your grade on the line? Our team is counting on you and you're going to let us down because of a few facts and dates. You realize that's what stands between you and the Majors, yeah?"

"But I can't do it!" Link whined as he still reached for his chips. "You don't know what he's like! He's boring and goes on and on and he doesn't even speak regular Hylian. It's all book talk and nerd words. I can't learn from him."

"Sounds to me like you still aren't trying, yeah?" she said, working her combination lock open with one hand.

"I…well…" He looked away in embarrassment.

Of course, he was trying! At least, he thought he was trying… He looked back and noticed an opening in Ashei's guard as she opened her locker and he tried once more and failed to get his octorok chips back. In retaliation, he unhooked her picture keyring from her backpack.

"Link, give it!" Ashei shouted, an edge of cold command lining her words as she grabbed frantically at her hook photo keyring. "That's not funny! Give—"

An unfortunately placed smack loosened the keyring from Link's grip. His eyes lost track of where it had gone until he heard the pop, crack, and scatter of many tiny plastic pieces and Ashei's eyes were on him quicker and sharper than lizalfos fangs.

"Uh… I'll buy you a new one, I promise. Wait, I think I can fix it. See? I'm sure this'll pop right back on." If he just ignored the smaller shards, of course. It was the bigger pieces that mattered, right?

Annoyed beyond dealing with him, she fanned her hands dismissively as she crouched down beside him. "No, just leave it. I'll get it, yeah?"

It wasn't that bad. A little tape, a little glue there, good as new, he was sure. "No, wait. See? I can fix it—"

As he tried to slide her dad's photo back in its holder, a second photo slipped away from the first and out of Link's hands. Without thinking in his panic to right his wrong, Link picked it up. After his first cursory glance, Link looked again once he realized the young girl in the flowery pink sundress was Ashei. She had her arms in a loose, friendly semi-headlock around the shoulders of a red-haired boy with oversized glasses. Link knew the boy too—he had grown a lot taller but his face and large bowtie hadn't changed all that much.

"Ashei, you wore a dress…" Link said, his mouth hanging open in surprise as Ashei swiped the picture back, "and you were friends with Shad."

The last time Link had seen Ashei's face pinched and pained like that a boy had punched her in the eggs—it had really been her stomach but to a bunch of dumb eight-year-old boys that had just learned that girls had eggs, that was close enough.

"Both of those happened a long time ago and they aren't true now, yeah?" she said as she tossed the broken bits into her locker and slammed it shut.

"But you used to," Link said.

"Used to," she repeated quietly, eyes downcast as she leaned against her locker.

Link didn't know what to say so he just waited for Ashei to speak, if she was even going to speak.

Sighing, Ashei looked back up and over at Link. "Look. He's not as bad as you think. You're just taking your frustrations out on him. So stop it. I mean it. It's not helping you or him and, trust me, he's _trying_ to help you."

Everything about this was weird. Ashei was being nice. Genuinely nice. Ashei wasn't a mean person but she held her emotions close and tight. For once, she wasn't covering up her kindness with smirks, or fiercely teasing him up and down, or threatening to clock him. She was walls down, heart open, genuinely nice.

Link scrunched up his face in confusion. "Yea, but—"

Ashei's glare shut him up as she stood up from her locker and placed her hand on her right hip. "He's not trying to make you feel stupid by using big words. It's just how he talks. I didn't get what he was saying most of the time either but if you don't insult him and simply ask him to explain what he means, he will. He'll explain himself until he's blue in the face and knows you understand him. And yes, he talks. A lot. Get used to it, yeah?"

She probably had more than a good point there. Shad knew a lot of words Link didn't know and Link didn't like not knowing what he was saying especially when Shad acted like Link should know those words that were so simple and common to him but hard and confusing to Link. Truthfully, he felt more stupid around Shad and Link already knew how stupid he was. He didn't need to sit there and let a know-it-all drive that point hard into his empty head. Though Link had actually never thought about just asking Shad nicely what he meant—Link was usually too busy being mad at himself, at nothing and everything at all once to think up something as simple as that.

"Stop fighting with him," Ashei continued. "He'll talk a little less if he's not arguing with you. And stop whining. No one likes a whiner."

"Yea, I've been a bit of a whiner of lately, haven't I?" Link said, smiling sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head in shame.

"Finally the last Ordon goat crosses into the barn. Way to go, champ," Ashei smirked wryly as Link stuck his tongue out in playful retaliation. "Hey, listen, I know he's seven-ways strange but he's…a good kid. If he promised to help you, he'll help you. He doesn't break his promises. See, you've got one thing in common, yeah?"

Link tipped his head to the side in reluctant agreement as Ashei handed him his chip bag back and headed to her next class.

"Ashei, if the two of you were so close, whatever made you stop being friends?" he asked, walking alongside her in tow.

"Only thing I'll say is that it all boils down to me being a stupid girl who did a stupid thing of not standing beside her best friend but that's all you'll get, yeah?"

It was sort of an answer but didn't really tell him much. If she wasn't going to tell him outright, she wasn't going to. Ashei wasn't a real friendly, chatty girl, which made all her advice all the more strange…but genuine.

"And, Ashei, one more thing, last one, I swear," Link said. "Has he always lived in Castle Town?"

"Yep, always," she said, much to Link's confusion. "I don't know where his accent came from either. His dad talked like that, that's all I know. Must be genetic. A genetic mutation, yeah?"

"Gen-netic…mutat…" Link tried to say through a mouthful of octorok chips, crumbs dusting his t-shirt.

Ashei smirked as she knuckled Link on the arm. "Keep that up and Shad'll be tutoring you in science as well, yeah?"

-o-

Okay, this time, Link was going to do better. He had told himself and practically promised to Ashei that he would behave. He was going to swing the bat and listen to Shad. He was going to try to learn because if he didn't, he'd lose the team and a future in baseball and Link was pretty sure there was nothing else in this world he was actually good at, though Ashei joked that he could fall back on competitive eating.

Shad said that they could study at Link's house, hoping the familiar walls would 'inspire less antagonism', which according to Shad's follow-up explanation meant that Link would feel more at ease there than at the library. He could agree with that. Libraries were too quiet, too boring. They were better for sleeping in, not studying.

No one was home when Link arrived. His parents were still at work and Colin was in an after-school program and wouldn't be home for another half hour at least, depending on the activity for the day. Link tried not to come home until closer to dinnertime but more often than not, whether at home or wandering around, he was by himself. His teammates were usually busy after practice and if any of them had plans, they reminded Link that he had to study and wasn't going to let him tag along.

The exclusion didn't bother him. Truth be told, Link didn't have many close friends. He talked to a lot of his classmates and hung out with his friends on and not on the team but he could sit in the food court with or without anyone and be equally okay with either.

Link tossed his shoes off at the door, dropped his backpack on the living room couch, and headed straight to the kitchen for a drink and a snack or two.

"Heavens, old boy, I recognize that this is your residency but do possess a measure of courtesy for it," Shad said, setting his shoes and Link's neatly in the shoe rack by the door.

"Is that what that's for?" Link had never actually used those little shelves, though he always found his shoes placed inside it. Shoe racks were always the sort of things Link thought every house had but no one ever used, a common decoration of sorts. Like houseplants. Or the toilet paper roll holder.

"All right, where shall we begin?" Shad said, opening his school briefcase and organizing his papers on the coffee table. "Shall we review today's lecture as a warm-up?"

"Let's play a game," Link said, crouched down by the tv.

"You fail to understand a core concept of studying," Shad said. "Some effort must be offered into the act of studying in order to learn the material."

"Aw, but we've got time," Link pled. "Come on, just for a little while and then we'll study, I promise."

"This is not the reason I am here or the one Mr. Auru assigned me. I am here to assist you in your education, not be your playmate."

"History is boring. Video games are fun," Link replied and Shad was not amused. "We studied a lot yesterday. Don't you think I'll learn better if I get a break? Y'know, to let the facts sink in. Relax and refresh my head before we hit the grindstone. Besides, don't tell me you never stepped away from your studies."

"You are being awfully persistent about this," Shad said and considered and then, much to Link's surprise, said a moment or two later, "…I suppose we could delay our studies for a brief break. However, only for fifteen minutes."

"All right!" Link cheered. "What kind of games do you like to play?"

"I am sorry, old boy, however I must admit I have never once played a 'video game' in all my life," Shad said, coming over and crouching down beside Link as he looked through his and Colin's games.

"You're kidding me," Link said in disbelief. Shad shook his head no, doubly confirming that no, he was not. "What do you do when you get home then?"

"I read," Shad said.

"You read for fun?" Link looked aghast, even slightly disgusted at such a bizarre, foreign concept of going home and reading _more_. Link didn't like to read even while at school. "That's it. I'm gonna teach you how to play a video game. Let's start you out on something simple…"

Shad looked with mild curiosity through the games Link set aside. "I say, you possess quite a few of this game."

"Oh, that's The Legend of Zelda series," Link explained, not at all hiding his disinterest in those games. "They retell the old tales. Colin really likes them. They're kid games. …Fighting games are easy."

"I say, I am not one for violence, old boy."

"You're not the one fighting, Shad," Link said, laughing softly through his grin. "Besides, Smash Bros. isn't bloody violent. It's goofy violent."

Game up and ready, Link sat down beside Shad on the couch and handed him a Wii remote. Shad took the remote tentatively. He turned the remote slowly around and analyzed it. He was clearly confused by its shape and buttons and triggers and had no idea what to do with it.

Repeatedly glancing over at Link for insight, he turned his remote horizontally because Link had done so. Link could have told him to hold it upright and shake it and he probably would have done it but that would have been a jerk move. He did watch Shad fret a bit before he told him to press the A button to wake the remote and let it connect to the system.

"How exactly might I play this video game?" Shad asked.

"It's not that hard," Link said. "Just press buttons. That's how I learned."

After one match and not doing too bad with figuring out the basics, Shad didn't win but then again so didn't Link. The fact he hadn't won really annoyed Link. He half-scowled and half-pouted at the television and vowed his revenge.

"Freaking Jigglypuff…" he grumbled. Yea, he didn't like to lose but he certainly didn't like getting beat by a pink puffball Ilia would keep on her bed.

"I say, now how are you supposed to keep track of yourself amidst the sprawling chaos?" Shad asked, still staring at the remote and moving his fingers over the buttons and directional pad as if he was setting to memory what he had learned each button did. Link almost told him that every character's moveset was different but he was sure he would figure that out as soon as he chose someone else other than Luigi.

"That's the fun," Link said, flashing a smile. "Go again?"

"I suppose we possess the time span for one more." Link was very happy to hear that. As confused as he seemed, Shad also seemed to be having fun. It had really been fun to watch him twist the remote with his body and see his face locked in absolute focus as he played. Link chalked up his poor game to his distraction—after all, he had spent most of the round trying not to giggle at Shad's seriousness.

"Good, 'cause I'm going after that stupid pink marshmallow," Link said, moving his token away from Bowser and selected Ike in the pursuit of absolute victory with his best fighter.

"You do realize it's merely a collection of data and programming?" Shad said, hovering from fighter to fighter, being unfamiliar with all of them, before he unintentionally selected Captain Falcon.

"Yea, but it kicked my ass," Link grumbled.

Link's mother and Colin came home from work about a half an hour later. His mother, Uli, was pleasantly surprised to see Link had brought a friend over—to which Shad hastily introduced himself as Link's tutor while trying not to lose and explained that they were merely taking a short respite from their task on hand and then Link won and loudly cheered for his own victory and drowned Shad out.

Colin sat beside Link munching on popcorn out of a big bowl and watched since they didn't have another remote for a third player. Between matches, Link crammed fistfuls of popcorn into his mouth as Shad glanced over and frowned at his behavior, eventually telling him that he ate like a Moblin. Colin looked over to Shad and said innocently that Link would eat a Moblin. Link wasn't sure if he would, especially if real Moblins looked like ones in the Zelda games, but if they were more pig than pig people, he wouldn't might trying a flank.

"Hey, can I ask you something? Link says it doesn't—" Colin added and asked to borrow Shad's remote. He handed the remote over, claiming to need a respite for his thumbs already.

"That's 'cause it doesn't," Link grumbled in clear disagreement as he watched the character token move. He knew what Colin was going to ask and it annoyed him that he was asking Shad after he had once and for all said it didn't look like him. It was an old argument between them, one that his little brother wouldn't let go.

"—But I say it does but what do you think?" Colin asked, stopping on the character of Link. "Doesn't this guy look like Link?"

"He doesn't," Link insisted obstinately.

Shad blinked in disbelief. "I say, old boy, much as you protest otherwise, this digital fellow is an exact twin to you, facial features wise. Frankly, I find it quite unsettling. He even possesses your name."

"That's because he's from the Zelda series and all the heroes from the old stories were named Link and Link was named after the old heroes," Colin explained, a brightness in his smile and words as he finally found someone that agreed with him.

"I see," Shad nodded once in understanding, "so it is more a matter of coincidence. After all, Link consistently remains a favorite name for boys. There are thousands of Links."

"Still it's creepy that that Link looks just like him," Colin said and Shad agreed. "I'm pretty good with him but Link won't play him. He won't play the Zelda games. He's afraid of them."

"I am not," he growled, raising his voice slightly.

"Then can I play Twilight Princess when you're home?" Colin asked hopefully.

"No," Link said and Colin's hopeful smile fell into a pout," and you know why you can't."

"Are you going to go somewhere this week?" Colin asked him. "Mom and Dad think you don't have any friends anymore."

Link had friends. He just didn't hang out with them all the time and the team he saw nearly every day. Sure, he used to be gone all the time but he changed. He was still dumb but he wasn't the dumb punk he used to be.

"I don't know," Link said, a little flippantly, and shrugged his shoulders as a new match started. "Maybe."

"Will you go out with him?" Colin leaned forward and asked Shad. "I really want to finish the water temple stage."

Wide-eyed, Shad sputtered and stumbled over his confused reply and never gave actual answer as far as Link could recall and looked back at the tv in embarrassment.

"Don't you have homework?" Link said sternly and stared at his little brother. With a frustrated sigh, he said that he had already finished his, but getting the message, he headed into the kitchen to help out their mother with making dinner by prepping a good portion of it. The boy could cook and his grades were great. Link was proud of him but they still had their spats, mostly involving him not being able to play a Zelda game while he was home because of his bizarre…condition.

"I'm not afraid," Link said as he clicked through the match results. "Those games…mess with my head. I get sick. I black out. I don't like seeing things. Things that don't feel like they didn't happen. Every time he plays a Zelda game, weird stuff happens and I see new things but it's like that Princess one…"

"Incites the strongest response?" Shad said.

"Yea," Link nodded. "I got doctors baffled. They think it's a rare reaction due to migraines or epilepsy but my head's fine and nothing else bothers me. We just made Colin not play them when I'm home. I try to stay gone most of the time or in my room because he really likes those games and I don't want him to not play them. It's not his fault I've got the world's stupidest trigger."

"Not to stir up our previous conversations per se," Shad said as the character select screen returned, "however do you see the familiar resemblance in this Zelda to our Zelda? Quite uncanny, do you agree, old boy?"

Having intentionally avoided anything to do with the Zelda games, he had never noticed until now how much she did look like Zelda.

"…That is freaky," Link said, wincing in pain as he bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. A wave of nausea rushed over and through him. "Let's play something else, 'kay?"

"Actually, old boy, as entertaining and educating as this as been for myself, I do believe it is time we partake in educating yourself in history."

"But we were having so much fun…" Link said with a slight whine in his voice before becoming absolutely serious in tone. "You need to play Mario Kart."

"Link, you have eleven days in which to improve your comprehension of history and we have already spent nearly an hour of our study session playing video games."

"We have plenty of time," Link said, trying to be very reasonable and convincing so Shad would agree with him again and he wouldn't have to study yet. "Besides dinner will be ready soon and we can study afterwards."

"You have homework to do, old boy," Shad said, stare fixed and resolute, as he turned off the tv. "We have had our fun. Now you must study."

Link groaned and pouted as Shad handed him his textbook and told him to open it to the sixth chapter on the third Goron-Zora War so he could finish the lesson started earlier and began his lecture on The Kokiri Treaty. Link quickly decided that he liked him better when he was losing at Smash and Shad was too focused on the game to notice Link grinning or that they were having a good time. But then he had to go and ruin their moment by making him study.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really sure what to say here this time. I can only offer that it was never my intention to set aside this story for so long. This fic was always supposed to be a fun story with only some drama, but somewhere around this chapter, I lost sight of the levity. I started overthinking the plot to the point where I could only see its faults. I've lost count on how many rewrites it has taken me to get to something I actually liked.
> 
> Oddly enough, it was the TP manga and its 'mishandling' of Shad that fueled my will to complete this chapter and kind of reinvigorated my hibernating love of ShadLink. Because what's better to fuel fanfics than one's irritation toward an adaptation that apparently decides to give your favorite character the middle finger... Ah well, as always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: The History of Us

Disclaimer: Still do not own Twilight Princess.

-o-

Chapter Four: In Shad's Company

-o-

Even as they headed up the stairwell together to his floor, Shad still could not believe that Link had wanted to see where he lived and study at his home rather than at his own. Shad had quietly laughed at Link, mistaking Link's honest request for a joke, but Link had been sincerely curious. It was unexpected, to say the least, but it was also pleasantly exciting, even if the prospect of having Link over left Shad feeling a nervous flutter throughout his chest.

Shad rarely had company over, which it was more accurate to say that he never had company over. His uncle Mako only came home for a week or two once or twice a year. Miss Telma was the exception, of course, but she was also his landlady so she was obligated to check in on him at least once a month for rent. Nonetheless, he appreciated her visits and chats immensely.

It was strange but ever since their study session the other day, Link was considerably less quarrelsome with him. Link still frowned and grumbled his protests underneath his breath whenever Shad brought up studying but he no longer ignored him. Actually, as long as Shad did not bring up studying, Link was rather civil toward him. It was certainly a step up from their previous interactions.

"Pardon my disbelief, but tell me again why you wanted to study at my place?" Shad asked as they approached his apartment and Shad fumbled through his backpack for his keys. They had stopped by Link's house earlier so Link was able to drop off his equipment and also wash and change and they easily could have just stayed and studied there but Link had persisted with his request until Shad had agreed.

"I don't know," Link said as he sat on top of the stone balcony and idly tapped his heels against it as he let the sun warm his back. "We studied at my place already so it just sounded fair." He punctuated his explanation with a shrug. Link appeared to be in a remarkably good mood today.

_I suppose that is as good a reason as any,_ Shad thought as he located his keys and opened his door. Doubting that Link was inclined to do so on his own, Shad asked him to remove his shoes in the doorway. Link did so but Shad still had to set them in the rack by the door. History was at the forefront of his tutoring but Shad hoped to impart Link the habit of utilizing the shoe rack by the end of their arrangement. He had higher hopes that he was going to be at least successful at teaching him history.

While Link looked around his living room in awe at all of his parents' antiques and his father's retro-fitted creations, Shad hastened to the kitchen to put on a kettle for tea to settle his nerves and agitated stomach. It had been so long since he had company over that he had briefly forgotten what the proper etiquette for hosting a guest was. He snapped his fingers as he recalled that he needed to offer Link a drink. And snacks. Link was going to want snacks. _If only Link had not chosen to_ _come over on grocery day…_ he groaned to himself. Shad's kitchen was quite scarce of food, especially of the superfluous snacking variety Link was so fond of.

"I thought all your furniture was going to have grandma plastic on them. Glad I'm wrong," Link said jovially. "I've never seen so much old stuff before. No wonder you're good at history. You kinda live it."

_Did he just offer me a compliment?_ Shad thought, blinking in mild surprise. "W-Well, I prefer the term 'antiquated' or 'retrospective' but yes, thank you," Shad said, shyly looking away as he held his hands behind his back. In the wake of Link's kind words, Shad almost forgot to offer him a drink.

Link crouched down in front of Shad's television set. "Even your tv looks like it's a hundred years old. How did you hook up a dvd player to it?" he said, gazing with amused curiosity at his television set retro-fitted in what now was fashionably called Hyrulean Steampunk. At the time that his father had built it, however, it had just been his father's artistic preference. If his father were still alive, his specialty antiques and oddities shop and his retro-fitting side business no doubt would have found their market. His father's knowledge and passions had always been before their time.

There was something about the sincere interest in Link's eyes that sent Shad's ears red hot. "It's a modern tv, old boy, but the wooden box frame and the front control panel and buttons were custom-built by my father. He enjoyed tinkering with old machines. We both do, actually."

"That's so weird and unnecessary," Link said and Shad winced behind him out of his view. "But kinda cool."

_I say, I have never heard that word attributed to me_ _in any positive regard_ _,_ Shad thought as he blinked in astonishment. He was far more used to being called weird than cool. Truthfully, he had not expected Link's sentence to finish out on another compliment.

"You and your dad do this a lot together?" Link asked as he rose out of his crouch and stood.

"Actually, my parents are no longer with me," Shad said and Link looked back at him. There was surprise in Link's wide-eyed stare but there was also an unspoken apology and a realization that he had shoved his foot straight in his mouth. Shad waved a hand in an 'it's-fine' manner. "Truth be told, I'm still an apprentice compared to what father knew."

"Is it just you here all the time?" Link asked. He seemed to grasp quickly that what Shad meant was that his parents were no longer living rather than mistakenly thinking that Shad merely lived away from them. "Who takes care of the house and pays for everything?"

"I do," Shad replied. "My parents were well off enough that I'll be fine until I graduate university as long as I stick to a sensible budget. And my uncle saw to it that I was self-sufficient before he returned to his boat. All in all, I possess a regular home life as anyone else, except that I must be the one to do everything."

Shad knew that his living situation was highly unusual, even when compared among the students that really did live away from their parents, but he was determined to not feel as if his life was strange in comparison to his classmates. He knew that he was an odd person and his interests were peculiar and not fashionable among his peers but his home life was not strange. The fact that living alone was more typical for a twenty-something than a high school student was beside the point.

"You must go to the movies a lot," Link said. "That's what I'd do if I lived alone."

_Of course you would, old boy,_ Shad thought. "I cannot recall the last motion picture I went to see," he said, tilting his head down and smiling softly. "I much prefer to splurge my allotted luxuries expense at the bookstore."

"Shad, you ever think you read too much?"

No matter how many times someone asked him that question, Shad still found it preposterous. "Sorry, old boy, but there is no such thing."

Link softly laughed while shaking his head in what Shad presumed to be amused disbelief. At the whistle of his kettle, Shad stepped back into the kitchen briefly and finished making himself a cup of tea. Link was sitting on his loveseat when Shad returned with their drinks and sat down beside him.

"Hey, listen…" Link said rather sheepishly, after thanking Shad for the milk. "I'm sorry if I opened my big mouth."

"Now, it's all right, old boy. You could not have known," Shad said, pausing to have a sip of his tea. He had to admit that he was feeling far less nervous. So far, Link's visit was going better than he had expected—not that Shad had expected things to go wrong so quickly but Shad almost always thought and prepared for the worst to occur. "While I do miss them terribly every day, there is no better way to honor their lives than to live on. They are still with me, in spirit and body. My very DNA is a part of each of them, after all."

"I wish I had thought of myself like that out before I turned into a stupid punk," Link said. "I hated being the foster kid."

"Pardon?" Shad said, stopping mid-raise of his teacup to his lips. Of all the many things said about Link throughout the halls and in the classrooms not once had the fact that Link was once a foster child ever surfaced through the rumor mill. However, Shad had heard how Link used to be quite the delinquent in middle school before he joined the baseball team and found the sport to be a natural fit for him.

"I was taken from my birth parents," Link said, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, Rusl and Uli, they adopted me. It's kinda obvious."

"It does make sense now, seeing how you possess Hylian ancestry, as do I," Shad said as he tapped the pointed tip of his slightly elongated ears.

While there was little distinction between Hylian and human today and both terms were used to refer to the populace, having Hylian ancestry always referred to being descendants of the chosen people said to be capable of hearing the gods' voices. Of course, the Hylians of the old tales were said to be capable of using magic so the authenticity of the old tales were taken with a grain of salt these days. Even so, Shad still hoped to one day see the City in the Sky told in the old stories, even if his classmates thought he was a complete birdbrain for thinking it actually existed.

"It's not a big a deal to me than it used to be. But no one rags on me about it anymore either. I remember being jealous of my friends at times and it always felt like everyone around me was pitying me. Bullies used to sling out the fact I had no parents like it made it all right to pick on me," Link said, his smile devoid of any real humor. "After a while, I got angry. Even after Rusl and Uli adopted me, it took me a long while to stop thinking I was alone, to think of them as my parents."

_I never would have guessed..._ Shad thought. It was hard for Shad to imagine an angry and lonely Link when Link always seemed to have a carefree smile on his face and a crowd of friends and fans around him throughout the school day and long after the final bell. Hardly any of his fellow classmates ever had a bad thing to say about Link and he was not without quite a few heart-eyed female admirers who were unabashed in their exclaims that Link was so cool and handsome. The fact that Link was on the complete opposite side of the popularity spectrum than Shad was not lost on him. Still Shad had not expected to have any similar commonality to Link.

"I was devastated at first but my uncle saw me through my grief and loss," Shad said. He found it remarkable how frank Link was being with him. "When he first headed back out to sea, it felt like I had lost a parent again, but that time I had all the knowledge and skills to fend for myself. After a while, I eventually accepted that I was alone."

"That's really me—" Link started to say and then quickly said, "mature. You're a lot more mature than I am."

Shad had his suspicions that 'mature' wasn't the word that had first came to Link's mind. Still he felt his cheeks warm again at the compliment.

"So we gotta get started?" Link cheerfully said in an attempt to further smooth over his near slip of the tongue and to clear out the unfortunate, serious air that had settled in and around them.

"We could," Shad said, pleased to hear that Link was ready to begin their study session. This was the first time Shad did not have to fuss and squabble with him to get his books and mind ready, or deal with Link's attempts to distract him from his lecture, or bribe Link with snacks if he allotted him an hour of his undivided attention. "However, I was intending to go to the store today."

"Or we could do that!" Link said, quite enthusiastically. Like so many other times beforehand, the promise of food once again brought out the most cheer out of Link. The fact that that going to the store was also a further delay of their study session was not lost on Shad.

Shad hummed as he sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that taking you grocery shopping is not the wisest decision?"

-o-

As it turned out, taking Link grocery shopping was not the wisest decision but it was an interesting endeavor, to say the least. Really it would have been quite all right, except that Link had this discourteous and childish habit of placing things into Shad's cart with the expectation that Shad was going to purchase them now and that he was going to repay him in a few days when he had the money. Equally frustrating was that Link also had a terribly infuriating habit of putting away Shad's items because they were healthier choices and Link heartily enjoyed things Shad was only able to describe as bizarre approximations to food.

While Shad was not about to claim that his diet was not devoid of daily indulgences, he at least attempted to eat healthy and sensibly to counteract his sweet tooth. Link, however, eschewed nutritional content altogether in favor of things that tasted good to him. Among his list of snacks contained such dubious gems as cheese in a spray can, Goron-spiced jerked meat sticks, octorok-flavored chips, and mint chocolate cricket cookies. By the end of their little shopping adventure, Shad was convinced that there was a black hole embedded in Link's stomach. How Link managed to stay in peak physical condition was a wonder to Shad...

By some grace of the goddesses and plentiful compromise, Link had only added an extra thirty rupees to his grocery expense when it was all over with. It was unexpected, yes, but it was not going to decimate his budget like Shad had feared. Truth be told, having a few extra snacks around for Link was not a bad idea. Really, it was just polite manners for entertaining guests. And it was not like some of the not-dubious extras were things Shad was not going to eat himself, and he could put the extra milk and eggs to good use.

It was getting to be six o'clock in the evening and still Link and Shad had yet to begin their study session. Link had found it immensely satisfying when he discovered Shad's packed cabinet of sweets while they were putting away the groceries. Much as Shad tried to explain that there was a world of difference between his love of Cookie Keatons and Link's love of canned mystery meats and that there was an actual scientific explanation for his amassed quantities of sweets, Link did not believe either argument. Shad and Link wound up agreeing that Shad was no longer able to speak critically of Link's choice of snacks.

With the cooked chicken cut and the fettuccine done and draining, Shad focused on making the Alfredo sauce while Link went over a list of notable royals and their accomplishments. Shad was planning on going over the circumstances and events that initiated each of the three Great Hyrulean Civil Wars with Link after dinner but, in the meantime, it was beneficial that Link became well versed in and refreshed on Hyrule's unbreakable royal lineage.

Link groaned loudly behind him and muttered about something being impossible and that he was dead, dying, or something of the sort that Shad had failed to discern. "How do you keep track of who is who in what time when everyone has the _same name_?" Link complained in the same groaning voice as he tossed down the list onto the table. "Every princess is named or is renamed Zelda and I can only remember a handful that actually did something memorable."

"It was a very pervasive belief originating from the old tales that the first daughter of the royal family was a reincarnated mortal goddess, so nearly all daughters were named Zelda or were given the name later in life if she accomplished something worthy of the divine heritage," Shad explained as he added the Parmesan cheese to the heated cream and stirred. "To this day, the royal family continues the tradition and Zelda remains the most popular name for girls."

"Is that why Zelda is called 'the Princess of Castle Town'?" Link asked.

While Link was just one of the most popular boys at their school, Zelda was undeniably the most popular girl at their school. Top grades, class president, a star on the girls' volleyball team, Zelda was every much like the beautiful princesses described in the old tales. She even had an air of maturity and elegance that was very much indicative of a crown princess. Shad only had a few shared classes with her but she always seemed calm and above it all to him while many of their classmates claimed that just the grace of her presence was enough to brighten their day.

"I suppose so," Shad replied, "though I have heard that she does not care much for the nickname."

It did not go unnoticed by Shad that Link had stopped trying to study his list and instead watched him finish dinner. Shad was not accustomed to having so much attention and found his mesmerized, hungry stare distracting. As he briefly stepped away from the stove to gather their plates and cutlery, Shad noted how the heat he was feeling from standing in front of the stovetop presumably had not diminished one bit. He almost considered removing his bowtie in an effort to alleviate the heat.

"I've never seen anyone make their own pasta and sauce before," Link said, tilting his head up and taking in a deep breath of simmering Alfredo sauce. "How did you learn how to cook?"

"I had to, old boy. I learned through books and programs and practice," Shad said as he tossed and stirred in the pasta and chicken and then turned down the heat to let the pasta simmer for a spell. "Not only is it a basic survival skill but it's more cost effective."

"Oh, right, I guess you would've had to learn," Link said, offering a wincing smile as he realized his silly question. "Can't say I know much about making food. I'm one of those people that burns water."

"Oh dear… I would not be opposed to showing you a few fundamentals one day when we possess the additional time," Shad said as he removed the pan off the heat and started filling their plates with the finished chicken alfredo, divvying Link a larger portion than his. "Might there be something you can make well?"

"Well, I didn't want to brag but I do make a mean peanut butter spread between two chocolate chip cookies dunked in milk," Link said, raising his head high and sticking his chest out in an overt show of pride. Shad knew that Link was just kidding around but Link's answer had nonetheless left him dumbfounded, though not for the reason Link might have expected.

"Okay, I get it," Link said. "That was dumb."

"No, it's just that—" Shad felt the return of his flutter and quickly tossed his stare down onto their plates and kept it there as he admitted, "I do that too."

"It's so good, right?" Link said, his voice loud from excitement. "I didn't know anyone else did that but me." It was such an insignificant shared taste between them but Link was absolutely overjoyed to find someone that understood its appeal. In that moment, with Link's face lit up with cheer, Shad had the feeling that he had finally convinced Link that he was all right and that their arrangement was not going to be the painful, boring ordeal that Link had initially believed it was going to be.

Perhaps Link might even say hello to him in the halls when all this was over.

Moments later, Shad did not believe that his face was able to get any warmer or redder that it already was. But as Link dug into his dinner, found Shad's cooking to be more than gratifying, and heaped praise and engaging questions onto him, Shad found himself excusing himself from the table just to allow his face to return to a less noticeable shade of pink. It did not help that occasionally Link made noises as he ate that would sound indecent in any context.

However, Shad was pleased that Link was enjoying himself in his company.


End file.
